Honest and for True

Witty repartee and quips mostly keep this lightly paranormal contemporary romance from being preachy or dull. Brooklyn auto mechanic Lee plays life casual. When she meets a guy, she lies about her career, thinking she’ll “ruin the fun” by revealing that she loves attacking rusted bolts with big wrenches. She is the cool aunt to her niece and the rebel daughter to her parents. And when things go wrong, she calls on her guardian angel, Bucky, to help fix things. Soon she has a fabulous boyfriend named Hal and plenty of fun adventures. The zany situations Lee gets into are comic gold, and her courtship with Hal is sweet and exciting, the way new relationships should be. Lee figures that lying about her job and keeping secrets isn’t a big deal and won’t hurt anyone. But she has huge trust issues, and when crisis strikes her niece, the lies blow up in her face. Hal and Bucky leave, and Lee has to deal with her demons alone. Bucky may be an angel, but he is complex and richly developed, even more so than Lee. Unfortunately, Hal is too boring to be a romantic hero, and Lee’s path to redemption feels rushed. (May)